Coil-removal guide means for bull-blocks



May 5, 1959 E. A. DOBOSY COIL-REMOVAL GUIDE. MEANS FOR, BULL-BLOCKS 6Sheets-sheaf. 1

Filed Jan. 9, 1958 INVENTOR ELMER A. Do aosY idmifi A ATTORNEYS.

May 5, 1959 Filed Jan. 9, 1958 COIL-REMOVAL GUIDE. MEANS FOR BULL-BLOCKSE. A. DOBOSY 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR ELMER A. Doe

A ATTORNEYS,

May 5, 1959 E. A. ,DoBosY 2, 5, 6

COIL-REMOVAL GUIDE MEANS FOR BULL-BLOCKS Filed Jan. 9, 1958 6Sheets-Sheet 3 nu ur A L mIIEIHlm 6 p INVENTOR F2 g; 4 ELMER A. Doaosv AATTORNEYS.

y 1959 E. A. DOBOSY 2,885,060

' COIIrRE MOVAL GUIDE MEANS FOR BULL-BLOCKS Filed Jan. 9, 1958 aSheets-Sheet 4 Fig-5 INVENTOR ELMER A. Doaosv BY i;" We

A ATTORNEYS.

y 1959 E. A. DOBOSY 2,885,060

COIL-REMOVAL cum: MEANS FOR,BULL-BLOCKS Filed Jan. 9, 195a sSheets-Sheet s INVENTOR ELMER A. D0505! mawm , A ATTORNEY;

May 5, 1959 Filed Jan. 9, 1958 E. A. DOBOSY 2,885,060

COIL-REMOVAL GUIDE MEANS FOR BULL-BLOCKS 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 64 2 2/ Q 1 5F m P f 6 E 53 a l GE 3 CE A l g w; INVENTOR Q -Qgggggg ELMER 7L DoBosYlma q moq AA ATTORNEYS.

.Ps e tsd May 1 95.9

EOE-REMOVAL GUIDE MEANS FOR BULLBLOCKS iiinier A. Dobosy, Euclid, Ohio,assignor to Chase Brass "&"'Copper Co. Incorporated, Waterbury,',Coun'.,' a cop.

This invention relates to metal drawing apparatus known as bull-blocksfor drawing rods or tubes, and it relates more particularly tocoil-removal guide means hq u app t 7 V Drawing drums have been used forsometime for drawing wirethrough a die, the wire being wound onto thedrum which acts as a winch. Such drawing drums or bull blocks have onlyrather recently been used for drawing tubes or rods that had customarilybeen drawn on straight draw-benchesl The use of bull-blocks fordrawing'tubes and rods has obvious advantages in being able tbjdrawmuchgreater lengths of material at considerably higher speeds. Adaptation ofthe bull-block for drawingtubes and rods has, however, brought aboutmany problems, due primarily to the greater size and weight of tubes androds as compared to wire. V

Que of the problems has been in overcoming the difficulties arising asthe coil is removed from the drum after a drawing operation. The drawingdrum in apparatus now in use for tubes and rods is mounted forrotation'about a vertical axis and is suspended in inverted mannerat itsupper end only, the lower end being free. Removal of the coils isaccomplished by dropping them from the drum by gravity onto a receivingplatform dire'ctly below the drum. Such platform is of necessarilyrugged construction so as to withstand theforce of the heavy coil as itdrops. In addition, the upper surface of the receiving platform must besubstantially continuous and uninterrupted in order that the ends of thecoils will not become caught as the coil expands in diameter withviolent whipping of the ends and loops immediately after the drawingoperation. Furthermore, since the coil is subsequently removed from thereceiving platform by means of conveyor belts running transverselyacross the top of the platform, there must be nothing projecting abovethe upper surface of the platform which would inte'r fere with suchconveyor belts or with the movement of the coil laterally when it isdesired to remove it from the receiving platform.

In dropping to the receiving platform, the coils of tube or rod haveheretofore not maintained a'uniforrn inside or outside coil diameter andthey often become entangled.

As will be more apparent hereinafter, this is brought about by expansionof the loops in the coils and causes serious difiiculties in subsequentprocessing operations. Lack of uniform inside diameter of the coil, forexample, prevents the'coil from being placed on a-pay-off reel forafuture operation. Furthermore, if the loops in the coil become tangled,it is diflicult or impossible to pay-off the tube froma reel in the nextoperation. This is particularly serious where the apparatus for handlingheavy tube or rod, with which the present invention is concerned, iscapable of drawing at relatively high speeds, despite the size andweight of the material being drawn.

It is an object of the present invention to maintain uniform inside andoutside'diameters of the coils as they are removed from an inverteddrawing drum of the type described above, and to prevent entanglement ofthe coils;

2 Another object of the invent ion is to accomplishthis with simple,relatively inexpensive apparatus which automati sally centers andalignsithe coilsas they drop from the inverted drawing Apparatusconstructed in accordance with the invention is provided with aplurality of coil-guiding rods mounted below the surface of thereceiving platform of the bull-block and disposedvertically in parallel,spaced relationship to each other. These guide-rods are adapted tobemoved axially up through relatively small apertures in the top'of saidplatforminto coil-receiving position adj acent the lower end ofthedrawing drum, the guide-rods being arranged in a ring generallyoo-extensive with the periphery of the drawing drum, so that as the coilof tube or -rod drops from the drum it encircles the ring of guide''rods, which keep it centered and prevent the loops and ends of me onfrom becoming tangled. When the coil settles, the guide-rods areretracted .below the surface of the receiving platform where they do notinterfere with removal of coil laterally from the platform by means "orthe conveyor belt which extends across the plat-form. On the other hand,since the conveyor belt fits between the guide-rods, it does not preventthem from being extended upwardly above the surface of the platform.

U The invention will be more fully understood from the renewingdescription in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in whichFig.1 is aside elevation of a bull-block for drawing tubes or rods andshowing the coil removal guide means of'the present invention, certainparts of the bull-block being removed in order to expose the drawingdrum;

Fig. 2's a plan view of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is aplan view of the coil-receiving platform;

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the apparatus shown in Fi Fig. 5 is aplan of the conveyor system for storing the coils between draws;

' 'Figs. 6, 7 and 8 are more or less diagrammatic views of the drawingdrum in side elevation, showing the op eration of the'coil removal guidemeans; and

I ig. 9 is a schematic view of a pneumatic system for operation of thecoil-removal guide means.

"In' the drawings, A designates a tube drawing bullblock provided withan inverted drawing drum 10 arranged to rotate about a vertical axisduring its operation. Drum 10 is suspended at its upper end on a shaft12, the lower end of drum 10 being free for the automatic removal of acoil wound thereon during a drawing operation. A powerful main drivemotor 13, capable of producing to 200 horsepower, drives the drawingdrum through worm gears 14, 16, located in a gear housing above drum 10.The end of a tube 18 to be drawn is secured adjacent the top of drum 10by means of a pneumatically operated clamp, shown diagrammatically at 20in Fig. 1. Rotation of drum 10 in a clockwise direction as viewed fromabove will draw tube 18 through a reducing die 22. Immediately beforepassing through die 22, tube 18'travels through a set of straighteningrolls 24 in order to eliminate bends in the tube and to guide itproperly into die 22.

The tubes 18 to be drawn may be either straight or coiled when they arefed to the bull-block. Ordinarily, the first draw on the bull-block ismade from straight tubes, conveniently placed at P (Fig. 5) with one endadjacent reducing die 22 to which they are fed. These straight lengthsof tube may have been previously drawn to as much as 210 feet in lengthon a drawbench. After the first draw on the bull-block, the tubing is ofcourse'in coiled form and these coils may then be redrawn on the samemachine any number of times to the desired diameter, wall thickness andlength. In order to guide assume lie in even turns along the length ofthe drum, the die 22 and straightening rolls 24 are mounted on a movabletray 26 which travels vertically from an upper starting position showninFig. 1 to afinish position adjacent the lower'end of drum.inwhicli'tra'y 26 is shown in broken lines. Upon completion ofthe'drawing operation on each coil, the tray 26 is returned'to 'itsstarting position where the next length of tube is fed1to the machine.In cases where the tube to be drawn has been previously coiled, it lieshorizontally on a pay-off reel 27 on top of tray 26 as partially shownin Figs. 1 and 2. Tray 26 is raised and lowered by means of hydrauliccylinder 29 which is adapted to lower the tube 18 in synchronism withthe speed of the drawing drum 10 so that-the-tube lies in even, closelyspaced turns on the drum.

As the trailing end of the tube 18 is drawn through die 22, a load relayin the die causes the clamp 20 on the drawing drum to automaticallyrelease the starting end of the coil 28 (Fig. 6), which immediatelysprings outwardly as it increases in diameter. This increase in thediameter of the coil from the drum size makes the free ends of the coilwhip rapidly in opposite directions around the drum. coil immediatelyafter it has been drawn has caused considerable dilficulty in the use ofbull-blocks of this type, particularly where they are used to draw tubeup to ;as much as 3000 feet long, as some ofthe bull-blocks now beingused are designed to do. For example, whenfjthe coil is free of both thedie 22 and clamp 20 and has begun to expand, it immediately drops fromthe drum by'gravity onto a receiving table 30 directly below the As soonas it is free of the end of drumltl'and while'it is still expending indiameter, some of the loops'tend to' expand more rapidly than others,even causing some to be reduced in diameter, rather than enlarged, sothat when the coil finally comes to rest on the table 30, its'loops varywidely in diameter. This makes it diflicult for the coil to be placed onthe pay-oif reel 27 for future operations on the same machine or onsimilar reels for another machine. Nonuniformity of theoutside diameterof the coils causes difiiculties not only on the pay-01f reels,

In the past, the rapid expansion of the from the bu1l-block a sufficientdistance to permit a predetermined number of coils to be stored on itone'after the other as they come from the bull-block.

In a typical coil handling system for a bull-block having a 60" diameterdrawing drum, conveyor 48 may extend horizontally some 50 to 60 feetaway from the bullblock to a position where a transfer car 50 receivesthe coils andcarries them transversely to another conveyor 52 runningparallel to conveyor. 48 but in the opposite direction. Conveyor 52carries the coils back to a feed-. ing station C at the bull-block wherethe end of each coil is swaged in order to start it through the drawingdie 22, which is changed to a smaller size when the first length oftubing. to .be drawn returns. ,In order to avoid the necessity forfrequently changing the, drawing dies, some twenty coils (depending onthe diameter of the coils and the length of conveyors 48 and 52) aredrawn consecutively through a die of one particular size,.each coil thusdrawn being dropped onto the receiving table 30, which. carries it outfrom under the bull-block to the unloading station B where belts 32discharge it totake-awaycon veyor 48. The coils then travel alongconveyor 48, 50 and 52 to feeding station C. Conveyors 48, 50 and52. areautomatically timed to synchronize with the drawing operation and tomove the coils intermittently a distance substantially equal to thediameter of the coils. This requires properindexing of the conveyors sothat they will move just the right distance upon completion of each:draw. It will be readily apparent, therefore, that if the outsidediameters of the coils coming from the bull-block are not fairly"uniform, the automatic conveyor system will not function properly, dueto the fact that ajcoil may takeup 'more space than it should. therebycrowding the coils oneither sideof it. Machines of the general typedescribed hereinabove for use in drawing'tubes and rods of relativelylarge diameter are a comparatively recent development, making A possiblethe drawing of tubes of much greater length at higher speeds than hadbeen feasible before. The" but also in proper indexing of automaticconveyors used I :3 handle these coils, as will'be more apparenthereinter. Furthermore, as the coil 28 (Figs. 6-8) expands and drops offdrum 10, the loops may becomeentangled, dam aging the tubing in manyinstances and'causing loss 'of time'in untangling them so that the coilswill pay out properly during subsequent operations. It will be readilyappreciated that uninterruptedfeeding of the tube to' the drawing drumis extremely important in bull-blocks of the type here contemplated,which are capable of drawing speeds of from 150 to 2,000 feet perminute, depending on the'size of the tube. Therefore, if the loops in acoil become tangled, as they have been frequently'found to do heretoforein using inverted drawing drums, proper feeding is impossible, therebygreatly detracting from the advantages of this type of machine andreducing the quality of the product produced due to damage to the tubes.In order to revove the coil 28 from the receivingtable 30, endlessconveyor belts 32 are provided across the top of table 30. -Belts 32,which slide along the'supporting' upper surface 34 of table 30, travelover rollers 36 and 38 at opposite ends thereof, roller 36 being drivenby motor 40 through a driving arrangement shown at'42 (Figs. 1 and 3).Operation of conveyor belts 32 may be"controlled automatically or by anoperator at asu'itablecontrolstation, not shown. As illustrated in thedrawings, *table 130 ma yibe mounted on wheels 44 for movement alongtracks 46, so

that it can be moved out fromlunder drum 10to an unloading station B(Fig. 5) where it is in line with a take-away conveyor 48 to which thecoil is transferred.

The take-away conveyor, 'so-called, carries the coils, away presentinvention resides in the provision of means ifori maintaining uniforminside and outside diameters of the coils removedfrom the drawing drumin apparatus of this type and for preventing entanglement of vthe-loopsin such coils. To this end, receiving table 30, onto which the drop fromthe drum 10, is provided with several retractable guide-rods projectingvertically upward through apertures 62 in the upper surface 34 of table301 In the particular apparatus shown in the drawing'sf or illustrativepurposes, eight such guide-rods are used, these being arranged in spacedrelation in a circle (Figs 3) such that theside of each rod 60 outwardlyof the circle is slightly within the periphery of the drum 10.

'. For example, if the drum 10 is sixty inches in diameter between themand become entangled.

and rods 60 are each two inches in diameter, the centers of rods 60 willdesirably be located on a circle which is 55 /2 inches in diameter andhas its center located on the axis of drum 10. V

Guide-rods 60 are in this instance the upper ends of the piston rods ofdouble-acting air cylinders 64 which are mounted on table 30 belowitsupper surface 34. As shown in Fig. 1, cylinders 64 project rods 60upward to a point close tothe bottom edge of drum 10, in order toreceive and guide the coil at the finish of the drawing operation. Sincethe loops of the coil flail about severely as the coil expands, it isimportant that as little space as possible be'left between the ends ofthe guide-rods 60 and the bottom of drum 10 so that the. loops cannot'slip In fact, if'n'eed be, the ends of rods 60 can extend slightlyup inside drum 10 thereby virtually eliminating any possibility of thetubing slipping inside guide-rods 60. In order to securely mount rods 60against the harsh 1 thrashing. of the coils as they drop from the drum,an

of each cylinder 64 just below the upper surface 34 of table 30. Bearingblocks 65 are rigidly secured by means of bolts 66 to cross-members 67of the frame of table 30, cylinder 64 being mounted in any suitablemanner on the lower end of block 65. Rod 60 projects upwardly fromcylinder 64 through bearing block 65 which, due to its considerablelength and heavy construction, prevents any transverse or twistingmovement of the guide-rod 60. In the particular apparatus disclosedherein for illustrative purposes only, bearing blocks 65 are desirablymade of cast iron, being 8 inches long with a 2-inch inside diameter toslidingly receive rods 60 which move longitudinally therein. Eachguide-rod 60 is long enough so that when its piston 68 (Figs. 8 and 9)is at its lowest or retracted position in cylinder 64, the upper end ofrod 60 is flush with or slightly below the upper surface 34 of table 30.In the so-called 60" bull-block depicted in the drawings, the uppersurface of table 30 may be about 13 or 14 inches from the bottom end ofdrum 10. Rod 60 and its power cylinder 64 must, therefore, be longenough to provide a 13 or 14 inch stroke so that rods 60 can be extendedfrom their fully retracted positions, where they are flush or below thesurface 34, to their coil receiving position adjacent the bottom of drum10. A suitable power cylinder for this purpose is a Miller Air Cylinder,Model A61, having a predetermined stroke of from 13 to 14 inches, a 2"diameter piston rod and double-acting piston with a 3%" bore.

Conveyor belts 32 are arranged to travel between guide-rods 60 with awide belt 32a provided in the middle between two groups of four equallyspaced rods 60 on either side of the position on table 30 directly belowdrum 10. Narrower belts 32b may be provided as shown between the pairsof rods 60 on both sides of belt 32a, but these are not essential asbelt 32a alone is usually capable of removing the coil.

With reference more particularly to the schematic views of Figs. 6 to 8,operation of the coil removal guide means bereinabove described is asfollows: When the tube 18 is started on drum and with table 30 inposition under the drum, guide-rods 60 are raised in their coilreceiving position (Fig. 6). As has already been described hereinbefore,tube 18 is drawn through die 22, and the resulting coil 28 drops offdrum 10 upon completion of the draw to the position shown in Fig. 7.Guiderods 60 thus prevent coil 28 from becoming tangled, when it leavesthe end of drum 10 and encircles the guide-rods as it falls onto table30, thereby keeping the loops of the coil in their correct order andensuring that they remain fairly uniform in diameter, as shown forexample in Figs. 7 and 8. Coil 28 continues to expand even after it ison table 30, with the free ends of the tube being whipped about withinshielding, indicated generally at 69, which may be placed around thedrawing drum 10. When the coil 28 finally settles, guide-rods 60 arelowered, and table 30 is then moved to position B (Fig. 5). If theguide-rods extend above the bottom edge of drum 10 when in their coilreceiving position, it is of course essential that the guide-rods 60 beretracted at least part way before table 30 starts to move out fromunder the drum to position B where it is in line with conveyor 48. Withthe guide-rods 60 fully retracted below the upper surface 34 ofreceiving table 30, as shown in Fig. 8, coil 28 is free to be movedlaterally by means of belts 32 onto take-away conveyor 48.

While guide-rods 60 are shown and described herein, as beingpneumatically operated, it will be understood of course that a hydraulicsystem could be used in place of the air system specifically disclosed.For that matter, some other mechanical means of lifting and retractingguide-rods 60 could be used if found to be desirable. Fig. 9 shows anair system suitable for the purpose, only one cylinder 64 beingillustrated in the drawing for the sake of simplicity. When theguide-rods are in theircoil receiving position, compressed air from asource S is connected to the lower side of cylinders 64 through asolenoid-operated reversing valve and a header 72, which distributes theair to all the cylinders simultaneously. The upper ends of the cylinders64 are vented to the atmosphere through a second header 74 back to thereversing valve 70 where the return line opens to the atmosphere asshown. When it is desired to remove a coil 28 from table 30 uponcompletion of a drawing operation, a control switch (not shown) operatesa solenoid on reversing valve 70, placing this valve in its alternateposition in which cross passages 76 connect header 74 to the air supplyS so that air under pressure is fed to the upper ends of cylinders 64.At the same time valve 70 also exhausts the lower ends of said cylindersthrough header 72. Pistons 68 will then move downward, retractingguide-rods 60 below the surface of table 30, so that the coil can beremoved therefrom by means of belt conveyor 32. Since various types ofreversing valves could be used in the control system for operatingguide-rods 66, valve 70 is shown purely diagrammatically in Fig. 9 ashaving a sliding block movable to the desired position by a solenoid,which is energized either by manual or automatic controls.

What is claimed is:

1. In a bull-block for drawing ductile metal in the form of tubes orrods, wherein said bull-block has an inverted drawing drum mounted forrotation about a vertical axis to permit a coil wound thereon during thedrawing operation to drop free thereof onto a receiving platform havinga substantially continuous upper supporting surface spaced from thelower end of the drum, the combination therewith of coil removal guidemeans comprising a plurality of vertically disposed coil guide-rodsmounted in spaced relation from each other below the upper surface ofsaid platform for reciprocal movement axially from a retracted positionat least substantially flush with said upper surface, to acoil-receiving position adjacent the lower end of said drum, saidguide-rods being arranged in a circle not substantially larger indiameter than the diameter of said drum and coextensive therewith, saidplatform having apertures adjacent each of said guide-rods through whichsaid guide-rods reciprocate into and out of coil-receiving position,belt conveyor means extending across and supported by the upper surfaceof said platform between said guide-rods for discharging a coillaterally from said platform, and power means for moving said guide-rodsupward into said coilreceiving position and for retracting them to theircoildischarge position.

2. The combination defined in claim 1, wherein said power meanscomprises a fluid system having individual double-acting power cylindersfor each of said guiderods.

3. The combination defined in claim 2, in which each of said guide-rodsis provided with a bearing block rigidly secured to said platformadjacent the upper surface thereof with one of said power cylindersdepending from said bearing block below said platform.

4. The combination defined in claim 1, wherein eight such guide-rods areprovided and said belt conveyor means includes a relatively wide beltlocated centrally of said platform with half said guide-rods located onone side of said belt and half on the other, the guide-rods on each sideof said belt being equally spaced from each other and in pairs, theguide-rods in each of said pairs being located on a line parallel to thedirection of travel of said belt.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

